Keys to the Kingdom By Carolyn Tucker
Hotdogs or Steaks
As a little girl, I learned to entertain myself by “pretending.” I would pretend with my baby dolls, riding my bicycle, playing the piano on a chair, and pretend that I was a secretary. It’s alright to pretend when you’re young. But it’s really not OK to pretend when you’re an adult. For example, let’s pretend I invited you to my home for supper and I told you that we would have steaks. However, when we sat down at the table, I served hotdogs instead. I think you’d be shocked, disappointed, confused, and ready to kick my shins. So when you get your nerve up to mention that you were expecting steak, my response would be, “Oh, let’s just pretend the hotdog is a Filet Mignon.”
Living as a Christian pretender is serious business. We’re not fooling anybody when we’re not living out the walk we talk about. While reading in one of my personal journals from 2006, I came across this anonymous quote: “The partially-surrendered life may be Christian in spirit, but it is secular in practice. Of what earthly value is Christianity if it leaves no indelible mark on one’s lifestyle? It is of no value (in this life) to be Christian if you do not think Christianly — if you do not have a Christian life view.” We don’t want to get caught red-handed living as a Christian impersonator.
A genuine born-again Christian cannot stay the same. We’re either walking forward in a growing faith or backward in a worldly culture. Following Christ is a daily workout of killing the old lifestyle and being filled with the nature of God. (The last thing I want is to be filled with myself!) “By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the One who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence. And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires” (2 Peter 1:3,4 NLT).
No hotdog can fake it and make it. Pseudo Christians are pretenders which will fail miserably. Plus, they will discourage and disillusion others from committing their life to Jesus. The watching unbeliever will likely say, “What’s the point of being a Christian? He doesn’t live any different from my other friends who don’t even profess to know Jesus.“ God desires undivided loyalty and genuine devotion from His children. Christ followers will have a desire to live a different lifestyle from the surrounding culture.
As believers study God’s Word, we can readily recognize the first signs of fakeness in ourselves and take corrective steps to eradicate it. The qualities of a bonafide representative for Christ are found in Matthew 5:3-12, known as The Beatitudes. Jesus wasn’t tip-toeing through the tulips when He also said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men” (Matthew 5:13 NKJV). Evidently it’s possible to lose our Christ-likeness and godly influence. Again, there’s no earthly value to being a Christian if we fail to be fully surrendered. The hard truth of Jesus’ teaching should motivate all of us to take regular inventory of our heart, mindset, and lifestyle to ensure that we’re still wholeheartedly following in His steps.
The Key: Don’t pretend to be a steak if you’re really just a hotdog.